Purification and properties of a plasminogen activator from pig heart

An improved procedure is described for the purification of plasminogen activator from pig heart. The initial purification steps were similar to these described previously (Bachmann, F., Fletcher, A. P., Alkjaersig, N., and Sherry, S. (1964) Biochemistry 3, 1578--1585). Use of a novel extraction medium containing EDTA, cysteine, and 2,3-dimercaptopropanol-1 facilitated the removal of large amounts of inert proteins prior to gel filtration on Bio-Gel P-150. The final product had a specific activity of 120,000 to 160,000 CTA units/mg of protein (CTA, Committee on Thrombolytic Agents of the National Heart Institute). Total purification over pig heart was 25,000 to 30,000-fold, average recovery compared to the initial extract was 6 to 8%. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed a major and two minor components. The molecular weight of the activator determined by gel filtration was 51,500 +/- 3,400 for the major activity component and 48,000 for a minor component which was partially separated from the major peak in eight of nine chromatography runs. A gamma-globulin fraction of antiserum against purified activator neutralized the biological activity of the activator on fibrin plates. Immunoelectrophoresis of gel-filtered activator revealed only one anodic component.